Category: Armed Forces

The maritime side of the war: Crisis in the Black Sea Part I

Crews and ships trapped The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 had a profound impact on shipping in the Black Sea. To prevent the Russian navy from entering their harbours and attempting to capture them in a coup d'état, Ukrainian tugs and naval support vessels mined the waters along the coast of the Gulf of Odessa. This was a trap for many ships. Examples include the bulk carrier MV Riva Wind, registered in the Marshall Islands, and the Hong Kong-flagged COSCO container ship Joseph Schulte. The problem was getting vital raw materials out of the port of Odessa. What we Central Europeans have so far...

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Ukraine war: Russia utilises Ukrainian boats of prey

Russia wants to guard the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol with armoured gunboats from the Ukrainian navy Several armoured gunboats that were in service with the Ukrainian navy and were confiscated during the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine will now be used to guard the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol. However, their technology must first be restored. It is not yet known whether the ships will continue their service with the maritime units of the Russian Border Guard or with the Black Sea Fleet. The official Russian news agency Tass reported that it could not officially confirm the information at the time of publication. Before the start...

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BALTOPS 22 manoeuvre starts in June

The 51st US Baltic Operations, the most important maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea region, will run from 5 to 17 June. Fourteen NATO countries, two NATO partner nations, over 45 ships, more than 75 aircraft and around 7,000 people will take part in BALTOPS 22. Participating nations include Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. They will test a variety of capabilities designed to impressively demonstrate the flexibility of naval forces. These include amphibious operations, live-fire exercises, anti-submarine warfare and air defence, as well as mine sweeping, explosive ordnance disposal, the use of unmanned underwater vehicles and...

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Denmark gives Ukraine Harpoon maritime target missile

This was announced by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on 23 May 2022 as one of the results of another meeting of an international coalition for military support for Ukraine with representatives from Kiev. In this case, twenty nations negotiated, but more precise details of the participants were not disclosed. As early as 19 May, Reuters reported that Washington was considering sending Harpoon and Naval Strike Missile (NSM) missiles to Ukraine. With the Danish offer announced during the 'donor conference', the problems associated with such a transfer have been solved. Firstly, the US armed forces themselves do not have platforms that would enable the deployment of Harpoons from land to sea....

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The Neptune anti-ship missile: The weapon that can sink cruisers

And: a small island with strategic significance It was a home-made Ukrainian weapon - two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles, to be precise - that brought the defenders what was probably the most memorable victory of the war so far: the sinking of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva. Why was the Moskva so symbolically important for both sides? On the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine, the guided missile cruiser "Moskva", the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, arrived off the tiny Snake Island accompanied by the patrol ship "Vasily Bykov" and demanded the surrender of the 13 soldiers stationed there. The answer...

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